“Vixen, what in the seven skies are you doing?”

  “I’m checking for traps,” Megan replies. She pats the ground with her hand and presses her ear to the floor. “This room is too nice. There has to be a catch to it.” Her ass is high in the air, and I should put a stop to this madness. I tilt my head and look back at the cat and his human companion. They seem to be fussing over how to cook dinner. Those two do nothing but argue with one another. “And if there is one, then we should know about it, so we don’t set it off.”

  “You’re going around tapping the floor in search of a trap. That will set it off.” I crack my neck and yawn. “There are no traps in this room.”

  “How do you know that? I didn’t see you get down on the floor and check.” She stands and dusts her hands on her pants. “Maybe the walls?”

  “There are no traps,” I repeat. “And if there were, how do you propose on disarming them?”

  Megan scrunches her nose. “I’d figure it out in the moment, I’m sure.”

  “Uh huh. We will not be putting you in charge of disarming traps. You would have us blown to pieces. If you wish to make yourself busy, then....” I look off to the side. What can she do? Exploring the rest of this floor could be dangerous, though procuring some type of fur to create a makeshift bed would be beneficial to all parties. “Come with me. We will have a look around and see if there is anything of use here.”

  “What the hells? Ya gonna go out and look for trouble?” the cat asks. “We just settled down.”

  “If there is trouble, I would rather get rid of it now instead of when everyone is down for the night.” Besides, my mate is restless. Something is bothering her, and I aim to find out what it is. “You will stay here. We will not be gone long.”

  “Still, I don’t like the thought of us splitting up,” the human says. “Megan, why don’t you just stay here with us?”

  I bite my tongue and dig my cws into my palms. How dare this human even open her mouth to encourage my mate to leave me?

  “Eh, Roharu and I will be fine.” Megan waves a hand in the air. “Just stay here and hold down the fort.” She wraps her arms around mine and leans into me. “We’re gonna make sure there aren’t any traps.”

  Megan would not know a trap if it blinked red and yelled out that it is a trap. The other human huffs as though there is more she wants to say. For once, the cat is silent. He leans back against the wall with his arms behind his head and looks out the door.

  “Chloe, rex. They’ll be fine. The fox ain’t gon’ let anything happen to your friend.”

  “How do you know that?” She rounds on him and waves her arms in the air. “He could be the reason we’re here in this dungeon to begin with.”

  “Because the fox ain’t gon’ let anything happen to his female.” The cat rolls his eyes.

  “Let’s sneak out,” Megan whispers, tugging me along. I throw one st gre over my shoulder at the human, who is too busy going back and forth with the cat to notice. Megan keeps her thoughts to herself as we walk past the body of water. “Sorry about Chloe. She means well. I think everything is getting to her. She was always a worry wart back in our world. Though it would help if you called her by her name every once in a while.”

  “If it pleases you, then I will refer to the human by her given name.” The water ripples. I eye it and move Megan to the other side. If anything comes out of the water, it will have to go through me first. A fish jumps, followed by ten more. “We will steer clear of the water. Something may be chasing them.” There appears to be some sort of ecosystem here, though I have not mapped out the fine details.

  “Like a kraken?” Megan’s eyes widen. “This pce is so different from my world. The only thing I really had to worry about was getting robbed.”

  “The city is akin to that. More humans live there, though some of us demons live in the city as well.” I keep a watch on the water. The water ripples again and the faint trace of red breaks through the surface. The fish did not make it after all. “We prefer to keep to vilges and travel around. Less rules.” With Megan being human, she will want to settle somewhere. Life on the road is not for a mated fox. I run my tongue along the tips of my fangs. There will be much to change when we leave here. A city is far too stuffy for me, but dealing with vilgers is annoying as well.

  “And that’s where we’ll get some answers? Chloe may want to come with us. I can’t see her staying in a pce like this. Poor girl looks as if she is about to have a heart attack every time something makes a sound. Though why did Katsuro call me your female? Is it because we’ve slept together?” Her brows pinch together while a frown tugs on her lips. “That doesn’t mean we’re together, though. When we go back, we should set the record straight. About us.”

  “You wish to leave me?” My words are clipped. Forced. Anger licks at my blood and is smothered out by despair. The fault lies with me. I have not provided for her in the ways she desires. The beasts we have come across have taken far too long to be sin. I have failed.

  “I... I don’t belong here?” Megan unwraps her arms from me and the loss of her softness against me is nearly enough to have me seeing red. “Besides, don’t you want to use that time to find your mate?”

  “I do not need to find my mate,” I scoff. “My mate is—” The water bursts and shoots up. I grab Megan and push her against the wall, shielding her body with mine. The water rains down on us. She ducks her head, pressing into my chest until the onsught subsides. I turn my head and narrow my eyes at the white kelpie standing on the water. It tilts its head to the side and watches us with glowing purple eyes. Megan lifts her head and peeks at the beast.

  “Oh, I didn’t expect to find a horse here. Maybe we can—”

  “No.”

  The kelpie clucks its tongue, letting out a series of sounds that are soothing to the ears. It sounds like bells ringing. Megan gives me a look and I shake my head. The sound of thunder booms and reverberates against the walls. I look back at the kelpie. It strikes its long tail on the water. The motion sends a fish flying forward. It nds on the stone floor near us and flops around until it ultimately loses strength.

  “Is it trying to feed us?”

  “More like trying to feed on you,” I remark. “You should not trust a beast.”

  Megan worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “I know that, but I’m not getting that vibe from it.”

  “It is a kelpie. They lure you in so that you trust them and then they take you under the water, where they will feast on your flesh. There is no but to this.” The kelpie walks forward and pauses at the edge of the water. It continues to watch us but makes no other moves. I unwrap my arms from Megan and turn to face it. “It is not stupid. It knows what it is doing and right now, it is sizing us up. If there was a way to tame one, then there would be a record of such.”

  Megan huffs. “I get it. But what now? It’s too close to our base. And Chloe would totally go for it. She loves horses.”

  The kelpie sps its tail on the water once more and several fish are sent flying through the air. They nd next to the dead one and flop around. It takes a step forward onto the stone floor and continues to watch us. On its face is a golden bridle of sorts. It takes another step forward and lowers itself on the ground next to the fish.

  “Perhaps I should kill it,” I murmur, reaching for a dagger. The beast is showing no signs of leaving and is attempting to appear smaller than what it is. Perhaps it has used this same tactic on others. “If things appear out of hand, you make a run for it back to the base.”

  “What? I’m not going to leave you.”

  “Megan, I am not asking. I will not have this beast luring you into a watery grave.” I do not care for how its eyes watch Megan. The kelpie barely gnces at me. It continues to lie there, unfazed. I approach slowly. My shadows lurk under the surface, ready to strike the beast and subdue it. Still, it does not move.

  Why is it so fixated on Megan?

  I grip the dagger handle tighter and move to strike. Its eyes snap to mine and my body freezes as if there is something blocking my movements. I struggle against it, but it is of no use. My shadows flicker. “Megan, run!” I grit my fangs. The kelpie snorts and dashes past. The bindings loosen, and my heart pounds. No record has ever mentioned this ability. I turn and my heart pounds harder. The kelpie lies at Megan’s feet.

  “Don’t touch it!” I yell, but her hands are already reaching for it. She grabs a hold of the golden bridle and unhooks it, sliding it off the kelpie.

  Nothing happens. I move so I am in front of her, though the kelpie continues to ignore me.

  “I told you not to touch it.”

  “I know. I know. But it wanted me to have this. You’re making Roharu nervous. Could you give us space?”

  Megan cannot be serious.... the kelpie rises and walks back to the water. Its tail drags behind it as it goes back to the water.

  “Was this another feeling of yours?” I turn so I have an eye on the beast and can watch Megan at the same time. The golden bridle brightens and wraps around her arm like a bracelet. Her hands glow purple, the same color as my eyes and that of the kelpie. Indecision wars within me. Everything I have been taught is that kelpies are dangerous. Beasts are dangerous. An attempt to tame one is simply deying one’s death. But this beast gave up its bridle with no fight.

  What game is it pying?

  Megan nods. “It watched me like that thing from earlier, but I didn’t get a creepy vibe from it.” She bites her lip again. “Not that it isn’t dangerous, but...it wants something from us, but not our lives. At least not right now. Maybe ter?”

  Wants something from us? I brush the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip. “You are making deals and you do not know the terms. I do not trust the beast, but I trust you. Even if your judgment can be fwed.”

  “Hey! I’m telling you, every dungeon has traps somewhere. Even I know that.” She crosses her arms and pouts. “Maybe it’s bound to this pce, and it wants out?”

  “You would set a kelpie out to roam? It will sink its teeth into the less fortunate, such as that worker from the inn you are so fond of.”

  Megan gnces at her arm. “What would you suggest, then?”

  “Command it to die,” I say flippantly. One less kelpie in the world is for the best. A deal with a beast will never end well. I twirl the dagger in my hand and gnce at the kelpie. Its eyes glow. It does not like me. The feeling is mutual.

  “Okay,” Megan says. She sucks in a breath and addresses the beast. “We can’t allow you to attack others, so I need you to...” She blows out a breath. “I’ve never told someone to die before.” Megan rubs the back of her head. “Could you please drop dead?”

  The kelpie stands. I watch it, careful not to make eye contact this time. It runs forward and sms its head against the wall. Over and over. The sound is thunderous. The walls shake. With one st hit, its body slumps down and lies there in a puddle of its blood.

  “I didn’t....” Megan swallows. “It actually killed itself?” She gnces at her arm. The bridle flickers, but it remains attached to her. There is movement out of the corner of my eyes, and the kelpie stands, stumbling to the side as it shakes its head.

  My eyes narrow.

  So that is how it is.

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading!